Firt off, I'm not posting this to crow but to express how lucky I am. At this past weekend's gun show, I spotted an old sidelock behind the seller's main table. At about 10', I undressed it for about five minutes. I then asked the seller if "that" was what I thought it was? He smiled and and said yes. I politely asked him if I could see it and jokingly offered to pay rent. ....
He handed it to me and requested that I not drop it. I could not believe I was actually holding one after all these years of being into M/L's. The barrel was larger and heavier than I could have imagined. We both guessed that it was a .56 or larger. Owner said that it had gone to Oregon in the early 1800's and wound up back in the Midwest. He bought it from a private collector and claimed he got a good deal. Needless to say, this was the best gun show I have been to, in the past thirty years and hard to express the feeling ...

Beck in the early 70's, I saw my first Hawken (Great Plaines Rifle) in the Smithsonian institute, in a glass case. Did not bother to ask if I could hold that one ....

I would ask if any of you, have ever held one and what feelings you experienced for this kind of stuff, touches the heart. ....

Be Safe !!!

__________________
'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

Yes, I have a friend who owns one. He also builds replicas that can't be told from the originals.
BTW, if the owner you mentioned "guessed" at caliber I would question his story without proper provenance.

Pahoo . . . . isn't it great when every once in a while an opportunity like that comes along? Congrats to you . . . it's always nice to be able to look and handle something like that!

__________________If a pair of '51 Navies were good enough for Billy Hickok, then a single Navy on my right hip is good enough for me . . . besides . . . I'm probably only half as good as he was anyways. Hiram's Rangers Badge #63

BTW, if the owner you mentioned "guessed" at caliber I would question his story without proper provenance.

I knew someone would catch that and yes, he has provenance and complete history. As per most rifles made by the Hawken brothers, this one was owned by an early Oregon settler as opposed to the fir trade. ...

He will have it at the next area gun show and this time, I will have a camera. ..

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isn't it great when every once in a while an opportunity like that comes along?

Yes and wish everyone in here, that experience. ....

Be Safe !!!

__________________
'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

I've got my gun club scheduled to see a private museum where there are some genuine Hawkens we can probably touch. The next question is whether it can be school sponsored so we can get a free ride (van) driven by a teacher (gunsmith).

I've got my gun club scheduled to see a private museum where there are some genuine Hawkens we can probably touch.

That is fantastic and as you probably know, the Hawken brothers/family, produced quite a variety of M/L's, in flint and percussion. Would it be possible for you to post some pictures of your visit?
I have never seen one of their full-stock rifles. ....

Thanks and;Be Safe !!!

__________________
'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

Never a real one.
My neighbor built one by scaling off of photographs in a magazine article I gave him.
A Mountain Man speaker at a past NRA convention had one built as a copy of a museum rifle, I think Jim Bridger's.

Darned crowbars.
I am sure they served their purpose, but the first time I picked up a 7 lb fowling piece, I kind of lost interest in the heavy old rifles.
Without eyeglasses, I am not effective with an open sighted rifle anyhow. If I had lived in frontier days, I would have been better armed with fowling piece, fusil, musket, or shotgun. And a lot less burdened.

If some of you can remember that one of the first copies, was Ithica. Reportedly, they copied the one that belonged to Kit Carson and the next commercial copy that came along, was the Lyman.

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Darned crowbars.

That is the first thing that got my attention. If men were smaller back then, they had to be tough whether they were plowing new ground or hunting meat for the Fir Trade companies. The one I held was really heavy ....

Enjoy and;Be Safe !!!

__________________
'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

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